ISLAMABAD: The Punjab Wildlife Department has collected R65,000 in its crackdown on the illegal trapping of quail in the Gujar Khan and Rawalpindi districts.

The wildlife department has confiscated netting equipment and recorders used to attract birds in 14 different localities. Two people in Gujar Khan were fined Rs20,000 each, while two in Rawalpindi were fined Rs15,000 and Rs10,000.

According to the law protecting wild animals, bird trapping is banned from April 15 to August 15 every year.

“It is illegal to hunt or trap birds between these months to give time to birds to breed and for their populations to rehabilitate,” District Wildlife Officer Rizwana Imtiaz said.

Officials started raids on Friday night and continued until the following evening.

Traps had been set in wheat fields as well as forests, Ms Imtiaz said. Cases against the remaining illegal trappers are under process and will likely be presented in court if the alleged hunters do not pay penalties.

In a similar raid, wildlife officials from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa tracked down a hunting party that had shot and killed hundreds of sparrows and posted about it on social media.

Wildlife officials took two days to find the hunting party, apprehended them and fined them Rs125,000. The images show a hunter holding a shotgun sitting in front of a heap of dead sparrows while another shows several heaps of killed birds.

According to Ms Imtiaz, the birds are illegally sold to restaurants or private dealers at a high price as an expensive illegal “delicacy”.

“In many cases the birds are illegally traded and sold as caged pets and killed for fun or sport,” she said.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2020